blue ornaments

These are some examples of blue ornaments on my Blue Chrismas Tree.

Blue Christmas Tree

 For twenty years I have decorated a Blue Christmas tree for my husband in honor of all law enforcement.  It started the first year we were married.  At first it was just a small tabletop tree.  I have accumulated so many ornaments that I went to a larger table tree.  This year I have gone to a tall thin potted tree I found on clearance the year before.  I love this tree.  It is easy to set-up and the branches fold up for easy storage. This year my boys found one more ornament to add to the tree. In addition, I found a blue star for the top of the tree, round glass ornaments in silver and blue and added a string of blue lights.  I will show pics of some of the ornaments on this blue tree in another post.

Paper stockings

These year I made several paper stockings.  My intentions were to place a photo of the Teen Life Band in the stocking as a gift to the band members for Christmas.  They came out so cute that I decided to fill the stockings with candy and sell at the various craft shows I am participating in this Holiday Season.  Several customers have bought them as teacher and grand kids gifts.  They plan on adding money to the stockings and placing the stockings on their Christmas Tree as an ornament.  How ever you use these stockings their multi-colored Christmas theme paper brings lots of cheer to any boy or girl of any age. 

Stained Glass Christmas Stockings

These stained glass stockings make great ornaments, sun catchers, or gift tags.  They come in a variety of colors.  Call me to place an order for a particular color. 

Mosaic Road . . . Silva's blog: Candles, stained glass mosaic wall hanging

Mosaic Road . . . Silva's blog: Candles, stained glass mosaic wall hanging

1st Show of 2010

Back of booth wall.

Had my first craft show of 2010 at John Knox Presbyterian Church on Gessner St.  I met a wonderful lady named Joyce who is a former ballerina and an acrylic painter. I sold alot of smaller items but my best customer was a lady who bought two panels for her bathroom window.  Since I was busy with another customer, Joyce helped make the big sale. We are considering sharing a booth in the Heights. The show is alot closer to where I live and is an established show with other artists, but it is an outside show. 
See list of shows through the Holiday Season.  I have nice and unusual things that will make great gifts for family, friends or teachers and still busy making more items.   Hope to see you at one of my shows. 

Battle on Wylie St.

Texans banner at Roy's house.

Juan & John hanging Cowboys banner.

Every year this time the state of Texas is divided between two football teams.  Wylie Street is also divided this time of year.  There is a battle between Texans and Cowboys fans.  My husband (Juan) is a big Dallas Fan while my brother (Roy) is a big Texans Fan.  Each household proudly displays their teams banner.  Wylie Street will stay divided for the remaining of football season.  However, our family is thicker than water and no team, win or loose, will ever seperate the family.  We hang our flags, cheer for our team, and win or loose we are a family united by the spirit of the game.  As for me, I root for both teams, after all they are both from the great State of Texas.  Good luck to both teams this year.  ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?

The Happy Chair

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Back of Happy Chair

This summer my neighbor had her granddaughter (Becka) over for about a week.  To keep her busy, Grandma asked Becka to paint a small bird house she had in the garden. I liked it so much that I asked Becka to paint an old chair that belonged to my grandmother that I had on my porch.  I told her to go wild with the colors.  There was only one request, that it be colorful.  The result is the "Happy Chair", I just love it.  All the colors of the rainbow are in this chair and it does make me happy everytime I see it.

Patriotic Bird

When I saw this acrilic painting of this little patriotic bird I knew I just had to have it.  I had gone into a frame store off Harwin Drive pricing frames, when I saw it on the floor.  I picked it up and new exactly where I would hang it.  It is hanging in my bathroom where I can see it while sitting on my throne.  The background colors are muted pale colors which makes the bird stand out painted in darker colors.  The little fellow looks lovely sitting on a small tree limb and even though he is alone, he looks very proud of his colorful feathers.  The picture fits perfect in my bathroom as the bird looks feminine yet the frame is very masculine. 

Little Mexicans

Hola:  I saw a picture of a little mexican taking a siesta and was inspired to make it out of stained glass.  I love the way the moon's glass shows movement in the clouds.  These suncatchers have a 3D effect as the moon is soldered behind the cactus and the cactus is soldered behind the little mexican guy. The angle the picture was taken makes the suncatchers look larger to small, but they are actually the same size. Adios.

Busy Bee

I've been a busy bee for a couple of days.  Finally completed a stained glass window panel I have wanted to make for several years.  As a matter of fact there are several pictures I have collected throughtout the years that I would like to make in stained glass.  I keep these pictures in a box.  I get these pictures from several places.  Some pictures are from stained glass books, magazines, coloring books, personal photographs and even from the internet.  Sometimes I come up with an idea for a stained glass piece and make a rough draft drawing on a piece of paper. I have been known to draw on a napkin while eating in a fast food restaurant. There are several napkins in my collective box of ideas. 

It is the end of July and I am beginning to think of Fall and Christmas Art & Crafts Shows.  I have been filling out applications to several shows this season and awaiting a response.  As soon as I am accepted into the shows, I will post them on my blog site.  I try to enter several shows through out Houston and the surrounding areas to make it easy for you to come and see my art work and hopefully find something you like to buy.

The panel I finished Thursday night could be considered a Christmas panel as it has candles and red ribbon, but I believe it could also be used year round.  For the next couple of weeks, I will be working on several textured glass light boxes.  These boxes will fill any room with a golden glow that will warm your holiday season.  Until next time, Peace & Love

Purple Cat

This stepping stone is the first mosaic I made.  No, your eyes are not deceiving you, and Yes, that is a purple cat.   Everyone laughed at me for using purple stained glass, even I was laughing, but when we saw the final project I knew I had picked the right color of glass.  This purple cat greets me everytime I walk up my front steps.  It brings life to my dead flower bed.  

Table/Chair

On the left is an old chair that belonged to my grandmother.  I painted it purple and mosaiced the moon and sun on the wooden seat.  Even though it is stained glass on the seat, it actually is comfortable to sit on.  To the right is an old metal table that started to rust.  After sanding, applied rustoleum and painted blue; I mosaiced a duck in water on the table using stain glass.  I love the way these two pieces came out and have them displayed on my front porch where they are often used. 

Snow Divas

These snow divas are made of stain glass, their faces and bikini's are heat set painted.  They can be used as christmas ornaments or used year round as suncatchers.  What a cute gift tag they would make on any gift. 

Angel Plates

These cute little angels are made out of small saucer plates and candy dishes with stained glass wings.  I used different textured glass for each angel.  Some angels stand alone by their wings, others are meant to be hung on a window or wall.  These angels will spread their wings and brighten any home with peace and love.

Stained Glass Cross

This stained glass cross takes on a different look when hung on different colored walls.  The blue outline and rose are made with stained glass pieces placed on a glass picture frame. I used clear textured glass for the interior of the cross.   

Baby Faces in Stain Glass

Everytime I wear this necklace, I am asked where did I get it.  I bought the necklace from Target, but I made the charm attached to it.  On one side is a picture of my first son, John and the other is a picture of my younger son, Mathew.  I scanned and cropped the original pictures and printed only their faces in black and white.  I then sandwiched the pictures between two pieces of glass and soldered them together.  I used a lobster claw to attach the soldered charm to the necklace.  I love to wear this necklace and my teen boys always ask to see their cute little smiling faces. 

Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (HQ) [Lyrics]

Parasols

The SPX Parent Association decorated the Commons area with pastel colored parasols hanging from the ceiling.  When the air conditioner kicked on the parasols started spinning.  It was a cool idea and the spinning of the parasols made it much more special.  It was a nice surprise.

Good Morning from Houston

What a great morning it was today. I came out and took pictures of my neighbors flowers before I went to work.

Stain Glass Window Panes

I love to make something nice out of recycled or found objects. This three panel window was a found object thrown out at the curb. My children hate when I pick up things on the curb. I am a true believer of one mans junk is another mans treasure. I used scrap glass for the words Faith, Hope and Love in each panel with a picture to represent each word. The picture on the bottom is the result. It was sold at the first craft show last year. I love the way it came out and hated to part with it. Lucky for me I found more trashed windows to mosaic.

Time

My husband (Juan) always says, "Time waits for no one." I have come to realize this is so true. Time seems to go by so quickly. I wish there were more hours in the day so that I can complete all the things that I want to accomplish. My day is consumed with work, school and my family. Don't get me wrong I love my family and cherish every minute with them. There are some times that I just want to get a craft project finished but just gets put to the side to deal with some other situation. Before I know it, it is midnight and did not get to finish my project. Today, I have made a promise to my self that I will make time to work on a project. I will set at least one hour a day to do something creative and fun. One hour is not a lot of time, but it is a start and it is a reasonable goal. Wish Me Luck.

I want to welcome you to my Blog "When The Sun Comes Out". I am a part time working wife, mother and artist/crafter. My husband and two teenage boys are the world to me and keep me going all day long. When I need to escape from the hassles of everyday life, I go to my little casita (house) where I can let my fustration and creative mind go wild. I have taken a few classes in stained glass and have read lots of books on my new passion of altered art. The one think I like about altered art is that there are no rules. Anything goes, the only limits you have are the limits of your imagination. I hope you enjoy viewing my blogs as I have enjoyed viewing other blogs on the internet.